Part 37

In the supreme hours of the open life of the country those who are able to feel and see and enjoy reap a harvest that is beyond all sordid dreams. At such times they care little for your trusts and mergers, or for what the future may have in store. And though these days cannot last those who have once enjoyed them feel that they counterbalance all the failures and worries and bitterness of life.

A FARMER'S DEFENCE

The world is full of deeds of praise, But what is that to me? I work my fields and do my chores, Nor care what deeds they be. Year in, year out, with glare and gold, The wonder world goes by, And all my fellows of the fields As little care as I.

But oh, it seems another world, Out there where things are done, Where glories worth a king's desire We see so bravely won. But something clutches at my heart When I would rise and go-- Who wins the most shall lose the most! The world is ordered so.

The children crowd about my knee And question till I tell About the golden wonder world Where all their heroes dwell. Their eager voices thrill my heart, I see their eyes ashine, And would not change for wonder worlds This little world of mine.

So unashamed I stand with those Who do no deeds of praise; We work our fields and do our chores, Unhonoured all our days. We may not set the world on fire, And yet we do our share! Without our toil your wonder world Would hungry go and bare.

INDEX

Agricultural bulletins, 34 Apple blossoms, 124 Apples, 1, 246 Art of pruning, the, 39 Automobile ride, an, 165 Automobiles, 193 Autumn day, an, 290 Autumn evening, an, 294

Back to the land, 162 Balancing accounts, 359 Ballade of apples, a, 244 Ballade of nutting, a, 310 Barn-raising, a, 202 Bee-keeping, 170 Bees, 107, 226 Berry-picking, 232 Birds, the, 46, 185 Burden of labour, the, 222

Catching the driver, 256 Celery, 220 Celery and apples, 26 City farming, 222 Coon hunting, 181 Country from a hammock, the, 210 Country life, 145, 314, 353 Country swindles, 22 Cow's digestion, a, 333 Curing meat, 34, 324 Cutting corn, 262 Cutting the maple, 78

Danged farm, the, 93 December day, a, 336 Digging potatoes, 291 Dog story, a, 159 Ducks, the, 299, 340

Educating Sheppy, 46 Educating the farmer, 28 Exercise for hens, 237 Experiment, an, 73

Facts about Ontario, 45 Fallen tree, a, 1 Fall fairs, 302 Fall rain, a, 311 Fall weather, 255 Fall work, 248 Farmer's defence, a, 360 Farm profits, 152 Farm prospects, 136 Farm work, 141, 214 Fences, 110 Fox-hunt, a, 51

Good neighbours, 47 Good roads, 105 Grasshoppers, 196 Great day, a, 77

Hen, the, 97 High cost of living, the, 177 Hired men, 88 Hiving bees, 173 Hoar frost, 350 Horses, 18 Hunters, 24 Husking corn, 272

Indian fair, an, 283 Indian summer day, an, 328

January thaw, the, 16 Job of draining, a, 147

Landed pride, 43 Lime-sulphur wash, 89 Little pigs, 264 Live horse-hairs, 245 Lonesome calf, the, 305

Maple syrup, 69 Moving the hens, 319 Mudturtle, the, 139 My first stack, 198

Nature's poems, 261 New alarm clock, a, 185

October, 279 Old-fashioned winter, 346 Ontario farms, 104 Orchard, the, 37 Out to grass, 130 Overwork, 120

Packing apples, 297 Picking pears, 276 Picnics, 154 Piece of foolishness, a, 325 Pioneer days, 58 Pioneer spring, a, 58 Pitching oat-sheaves, 230 Planting apple trees, 128 Planting trees, 111 Playing checkers, 12 Potato bugs, 192 Pot herbs, 99

Quail, the, 66

Rabbit hunt, a, 352 Reforestation, 36, 111 Retired farmer, the, 100 Roses, 197 Round-headed bolts, 190 Rural telephones, 32

Sawing wood, 7 Selling farm stock, 206 Signs of fall, 242 Signs of spring, 33 Simple inventions, 87 Skating, 349 Skidding logs, 62 Spraying the orchard, 133 Spring, 108 Spring emotions, 85 Spring frost, 117 Spring rush, a, 112 Spring work, 82 Still morning, a, 31 Stone, the, 233 Strawberry season, the, 169 Sulky ride, a, 250 Sun-dogs, 56 Supply and demand, 14

Thinning apples, 218 Thoughts of cows, 4 Thoughts on Diogenes, 156 Ticklish load, a, 268 Turkeys, the, 317

Value of birds, the, 150 Visiting weasel, a, 169

Winter evening, a, 343 Winter food, 322 Wordsworth on the farm, 125